After battering Taiwan, Destroyer Typhoon Meranti has made landfall in southeastern China, bringing powerful winds and rain. The state media has called the Meranti – the strongest storm of the year globally.

After sweeping through sourther Taiwan on Wednesday and killing one person, the typhoon Meranti arrived in the early hours of Thursday near the major city of Xiamen, China.

Pictures showed that flooded streets in some parts of the province of Fujian, where Xiamen is located, crushed cars and fallen trees.

News Agency – Xinhua said that it was the strongest typhoon to hit that part of the country since the founding of Communist China in 1949 and the strongest so far this year any where in the world.

It said that In some parts of Xiamen, including both urban and rural areas, power supplies had been cut off.Typhoon Meranti was a Category 5 typhoon, the strongest classification awarded by Tropical Storm Risk storm tracker.

State Television said that dozens of flights and train services have been cancelled. Tens of thousands of people had already been evacuated as the storm approached and fishing boats called back to port.

The Central Emergency Operation Centre said that One person died and 38 were injured in Taiwan as the typhoon hit the southern part of the island on Wednesday, including the port city of Kaohsiung.

Typhoon Meranti will continue to lose strength as it pushes inland and up towards commercial capital of China – Shanghai, but will bring heavy rain.